It varies, but for the past 2 years it's been around 6%. So yes increases are necessitated, but the unions generally start off with ridiculous demands like 15%

It varies, but for the past 2 years it's been around 6%. So yes increases are necessitated, but the unions generally start off with ridiculous demands like 15% increases and benefits and they have no problem with striking for days on end. The problem really is that when you have 25% unemployment, where those 25% are almost all unskilled then you work to eat and not much more. You don't have much bargaining power there. So again, if you're unskilled, oversupplied and are replaceable by machines, you should be very careful about what sort of demands you throw around. I'm not sure if unions are really conscious of this fact or just trying to appease the workers demands.